


The Difference Between Teaspoons and Tablespoons

by Heavenly_Pearl



Series: Dream Lovers [7]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime), Sailor Moon - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-24
Updated: 2012-02-24
Packaged: 2017-10-31 16:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/346221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heavenly_Pearl/pseuds/Heavenly_Pearl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Serenity decides to make snickerdoodles for Helios with questionable results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Difference Between Teaspoons and Tablespoons

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: "Sailor Moon" is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.
> 
> Written for the sm_monthly community at Livejournal, Theme - Sugar.
> 
> By the way, this is a real recipe, if anybody actually wants to make some snickerdoodles. I got it out of one of my mom's "Betty Crocker" cookbooks. All instructions are correct, other than the measurements Serenity messed up. It should be two teaspoons of cream of tartar, one teaspoon of baking soda, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of cinnamon for the cinnamon-sugar covering. Don't do what she did and mix up teaspoons and tablespoons!

"Lessee…what do I need?"

Standing in front of the opened pantry, the princess of Crystal Tokyo took out a sheet of paper, on which Jupiter had jotted down the instructions to her world-famous snickerdoodles, and began pulling out the necessary ingredients: sugar, shortening, all-purpose flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. She then went over to the refrigerator, taking out some butter and two eggs, and brought all the ingredients over to the spacious island in the middle of the kitchen, along with the necessary utensils. The head pastry chef at the palace, upon seeing what she was doing, raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"Your Highness, if you have a special request, we would be quite happy to make anything you ask," he offered. "After all, we are the finest cooks in all of Crystal Tokyo. Nothing is beyond our expertise."

Princess Lady Serenity shook her head and grinned. "Thanks, Ryuusaki-san, but I want to do this for myself. Priest Helios will be visiting the palace later today, and I would like to make him something extra special."

"Very well," he said with a slight bow. "If you require any assistance, however, do feel free to ask."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Once Ryuusaki had left, Serenity looked down at the first instruction Jupiter had written down on the piece of paper: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

"Sounds easy enough," she remarked to herself, heading over to one of the ten ovens equipped in the large kitchen.

However, upon seeing the complicated panel of buttons above the oven, she frowned. Back when she had lived the twentieth century and helped her grandmother Ikuko in the kitchen, the oven had simple dials that a person only had to turn in order to choose the correct temperature. Serenity had never used one with buttons before.

"How do I turn this thing on?" she asked herself, not wanting to have to ask for Ryuusaki's help before she even got started.

Finally spotting the "Start/On" button, Serenity pressed it, but was annoyed when nothing seemed to happen.

"Come on, turn on you stupid thing!"

Not knowing what else to do, Serenity began pushing buttons at random and let out a small cry of triumph when the "Bake" button finally brought up a screen to choose the temperature. There were two buttons right underneath the screen that were labeled with a plus and minus sign, so Serenity began pressing the plus sign until the temperature was set to the required 400.

"There! That wasn't too difficult," she said, again pressing the "Start/On" button. That time, it did work, the temperature disappearing from the screen to be replaced by the word "Preheating."

That done, Serenity headed back to the island and began measuring out her ingredients so that she wouldn't constantly have to stop while she was making the mixture to do so. That was one thing she had learned from watching Grandmother Ikuko and Makoto bake in the twentieth century, and she never forgot it. It was always a good idea to have your ingredients already measured out before you began any type of baking. Luckily, the measurements were simple, so she didn't have to do any complicated math.

She was then ready to begin.

In a large bowl, Serenity poured in one and a half cups of sugar, half a cup of softened butter, and half a cup of shortening. She then cracked her two eggs, carefully making sure she didn't get any shells in the mixture. She definitely didn't want to make that mistake again, cringing at the memory of her first disastrous attempt at baking.

After that was done, she plugged in the electric mixture and began on her favorite part of baking, beating the mixture. While she was doing that, she also stirred in two and three/fourths cups of the flour, two tablespoons of cream of tartar, one tablespoon of baking soda, and a fourth of a tablespoon of salt.

When the dough was finished, she pulled out a smaller bowl and mixed together a fourth of a cup of sugar and a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. She then began molding the dough into uniformly sized balls and rolled them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, placing each one about two inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet, which she then put in the oven.

Jupiter's recipe said they were to bake for about eight to ten minutes, but Serenity had always liked her cookies a little on the crisp side, so she left them in the oven a little while longer. Because of that, they ended up a little burnt on the bottom, but otherwise looked okay. After she had let them cool, Serenity wrapped the batch up in one of her bunny-printed handkerchiefs, tying it close with a gold ribbon, and happily headed out into the royal gardens where she and Helios had agreed to meet when he arrived.

 _I hope he enjoys these cookies,_ Serenity thought to herself as she waited by the largest fountain for him to arrive.

As usual, Helios was right on time, arriving in the gardens at two o'clock sharp. Running over to him, she gave him a hug and a passionate kiss on the lips, so happy to see him again. They didn't get to see each other much due to their respective duties as the priest of Elysion and crown princess of Crystal Tokyo, so whatever time they did get together was always extra special.

"Oh, how I've missed you!" Serenity exclaimed. "It feels like forever since they last time you've visited me."

"I'm sorry, my maiden. Things have been busy in Elysion lately, but you'll be happy to know that I can stay for the rest of the weekend."

"Really? That's wonderful, Helios!" Serenity hugged him again, completely forgetting about the bundle of cookies in her hand until they both heard the cookies crack as the bundle accidentally fell from her hand onto the ground. "Oh, no!" she cried. "Your gift!"

"A gift, for me?" Helios asked, bending down to pick up the bundle. "What is it? May I open it?"

Serenity nodded, and Helios undid the bow holding the bundle close to reveal the broken burnt cookies inside.

"I made them all by myself," Serenity said proudly. "I admit they aren't the prettiest cookies, especially broken up like that, but it is one of Jupiter's recipes, so they should be really good."

"You mean you didn't taste one yourself?" he asked, arching an eyebrow as he held up one of the broken cookies and inspected the first piece.

"No, I wanted you to have the first taste. So?"

"Oh, right!" Bringing the cookie to his lips, Helios took a hesitant bite. "Well…it certainly is…interesting," he commented after swallowing. "I have to say I never ate a snickerdoodle quite like that one."

"Really? Let me have one, then." Serenity started to reach for one to try, surprised when Helios suddenly yanked the rest of the cookies away from her. "Hey!"

"I thought you made these for me," he said.

"I did, but certainly you can share one with me, the one who put her heart and soul into making them for you."

"Well… Okay, if you really want one…"

After a short pause, he brought the bundle back out and allowed Serenity to take one of the larger pieces. Taking a bite of the cookie, Serenity immediately made a face.

"These are terrible!" she cried, spitting it out onto the ground. "Yuck!"

"I tried to stop you from trying them," Helios said with an apologetic shrug.

"But I followed Jupiter's recipe exactly, except for keeping them in the oven longer than she recommended. Burning them, though, shouldn't make the taste this awful…"

Serenity pulled out the recipe which she was still carrying around in her pocket and looked over it one more time, trying to figure out where she went wrong. When she finally found her mistake, she felt like smacking herself in the head.

"Oh, no, I used tablespoons when I was supposed to use teaspoons and teaspoons when I was supposed to use tablespoons! I can't believe I did that!"

Placing the rest of the cookies in his pocket, Helios gave her a hug. "Don't beat yourself up over it, Serenity. Anybody could have made the same mistake."

"But I wanted so badly for the cookies to come out perfect…"

"They were perfect, because they were made by you."

DISCLAIMER: "Sailor Moon" is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.


End file.
